Traveler's Notebook - added some pages

Shocking I know.

I can't believe how erratic I am.

But there's a lot of depending:

mojo

internet

mojo

I made this "tag" individually.

As like I didn't put it all together in one flash.

Each "page" was done at a different time and place.

But....

It seemed a good idea to make a small tag booklet.

Under that adorable twine bow is a staple.

I have a hard time leaving staples naked.

 and so they flip up.

My DH LOVES his coffee and roasts his own.

I must admit it rocks.

 So it's the roasting thing and making of the coffee thing.

Because it doesn't go through a Mr. Coffee.

Oh no....

It's a pour over.

Which doesn't take any longer than a Mr. Coffee

except you can set it up ahead of time.

 For all you TH fans out there I have no clue where that 

"flair" button came from except Studio Calico.

It's adorable all together.

Then a GINORMOUS tag from Bo Bunny adds a different

flair in my TN. Lots of layers.

 Another little TH homemade tag thing.

It wasn't quite big enough to stand alone in my TN

so I tossed it on the 4x8.5 page.

 That's the backside of the Bo Bunny tag where I cut

a hole to set those butterflies free over the photo.

I fixed it. 

I did pre-build the tag with the flower - it just looked right 

and it totally works with the photos.

Believe it or not I ran out of Colorado "license/map embellies

so I cut these out from TH license plate paper.

Love how it turned out.

Photos from Canyonlands

Besides canyons there's a bunch of stuff on the surface that

are really cool. Like this split rock.

 I have such a hard time with canyons it's so tough for

me to get their breadth and scope.

 This was fascinating.

There Colorado and the Green rivers that run through Canyonlands

and eventually converge.

I have no idea which river this is but it's cool all the same.

I love the trees.

 They are soooo artistic.

Seriously.

Of course there was haze happening but

you could still see the layers and layers of the mountains and canyons.

Every scene is absolutely amazing.

A few photos from Arches National Park

We were there a couple of years ago but it was a quick trip.

It's soooo amazing and beautiful we wanted to go back.

And we did.

 It's still beautiful and amazing.

And open, however, we were unable to get one of those snappy brochures

which is a bummer.

 Because the rocks have names.

Like Park Avenue, Courthouse, etc.

So......

 The skies changed dramatically as the day wore on.

 A bird hanging around.

 We did miss the Devil's garden and not sure if we'll make it back.

How cool is that arch.

Lots of trails to walk and the arches and some rocks are available

 to walk up to and hang around.

Highly recommend.

All the national parks rock.

Traveler's notebook update...

First off - all you apple users out there having trouble with photos?

It's driving me crazy.

It won't show my recent pictures to upload and after editing them they disappear.

So far no help on line after jumping through all the hoops to fix the problem

didn't fix the problem. HELP!

😐

However, it has been fun putting these pages together and I've been trying to integrate receipts

and  pamphlets from the places we visit as the pamphlets are chockful of info.

Tom didn't have a mask so I bought him a bandana to use

from one of the gift shops on Pike's Peak.

Above they have 10 different ways to use your bandana.

I did have it oriented "portrait" but it stuck too far out.

So I flipped it after doing some journaling on the back.

It's part of it's charm. 

You do get a lot of pamphlets.

I chose this photo because it was fun and worked better than my landscape pix.

Nicknamed the Royal Gouge because it was $29 per person

to walk the bridge although they did throw in a gondola ride

which may or may not have been working because of social distancing.

The ride through Garden of the Gods - highly recommended.

It's stunning scenery and one can clambor about on the rocks if they choose.

How do you like the new look?
I'm still getting used to it and think it's kind of girly but I don't have any other picks on the format that I like better.
Sigh.

We also meandered through the Garden of the Gods

What a beautiful ride and you need to add this to your list.

I was thinking flowers and stuff and

imagine my surprise when it's rocks and trees and grass.

When you get to the gift shop/welcome center you can get a map

that shows all the cool places in the garden.

 And mountains that are beautiful on non-threatening roads.

 The weather was still bi-polar but I love the different looks.

 How cool would it have been to discover this.

I mean it's really cool rocks but what made someone think to make

this a beautiful garden of rocks.

 Every corner has an amazing view.

 I think this is my favorite.

 There are trails you can walk and you can climb rocks 

if you so desire. 

There were quite a few people out and about.

How cool is that face.

Looks Italian.

We loved all the twists and turns.. 

 and surprises.

The trails were open and people were out and about.

I do have a lot more pictures if you were wondering.

It can't be helped.

The Road to Pike's Peak

This is the entrance and of course there's a fee.

And you don't get a map till you get to the visitors/gift store.

They had good coffee.

BUT THE VIEWS ARE BREATHTAKING.

L👀K

 We get to Site 13 and that is as far as one can go by car.

Conveniently, there's a shuttle that will take you the rest of the way.

Well.........

we didn't take the shuttle.

 One might asKwhy?

A couple of reasons for sure...

1. I HATE HEIGHTS

2. I HATE THOSE ROADS

3. WE WERE BOTH FEELING THE ALTITUDE BY THEN

we were about 12,000 feet.

 We did find bigfoot though.

  Of course, these were my favorite death defying windy roads

with hair pin turns and knuckleheads that try to push you to go faster.

 The view out to the valley was amazing and if I looked straight out I was good.

 More or less.

 The weather kept spinning on a dime.

And then the storm started moving in and you could

see the rain lines and actually at some

point we were above the clouds.

And then of course the ride down is as much fun as the ride up.

It started innocently enough - A tag's evolution

Actually it did, I was fooling around with my new TH oxide sprays (peacock feathers, mustard seed, abandoned coral, cracked pistachio and picked raspberry) spraying the tag in my sketchers shoebox to keep the spray down to a mild roar. I must have skipped a step or two because the sprays were like spritz and weren't melding together, so I took a paintbrush and straightened that out.

I'll be needing to review those videos again.

So on the left, I hand wrote "keep it simple" because I thought it went well with the snarky phrase at the bottom which totally summed up how I was attacking the tag.

WELL....I decided that what I wrote wasn't bold enough, so with supreme confidence I tried to go over the writing with a sharpie.
           It didn't go well and basically it turned into a big black blob that worked its way into a smear.

Enter more ephemera because when you have a big black blob that needs covering up what better way than to add more stuff.

I have a stash of precut dies (so I don't have to break it out every time) and sometimes I get lucky when the colors work out. So I kept adding and couldn't seem to stop and I especially couldn't stop until the big black blob was fixed.

Can you really have too much stuff on a tag.
   Um Nope.